Compress video to a broadly compatible format:
ffmpeg -i input -c:v libx264 -pix_fmt yuv420p -crf 25 -preset slow -c:a libfdk_aac -b:a 128k output.mp4
This incantation is what I end up needing 99% of the time I do something with ffmpeg.
this post was submitted on 26 Feb 2026
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I've been a fan of libsvtav1 lately.
I ran a comparison between libsvtav1 and h264 and h265 and found that libsvtav kinda sucks.
It does produce smaller file sizes at h265, but it tends to add a visible blur.
Might be what you're encoding. So far pretty much everything I've done has been visually indistinguishable (to me and my wife). Most of the content I've been encoding is anime, however.
I should try it on anime. I was using it on phone videos.
It’s very simple.
ffmpeg -i input_file <deep-dark-magic-you-should-be-afraid-of> output_file
Couldn’t be simpler.
-filter_complex sends its regards
That you don't need to prepend output-file with -o but need(?) to do it with the input / -i weirds me out every time I use ffmpeg (which is a lot).
No but that’s understandable- you can have any number of inputs (what’s the upper limit, I wonder) but everything goes into only one output…
Ah, ok? So anything after an -i is an input but the last thing is always the output so ot doesn't need a mark? Interesting.
Pretty much!
Two questions:
-
Why?
-
How?
Why learn when you can do what I do and look it up every single time you want to do something as though you are but a goldfish who learned to type?
Because you can improve and refine your technique. For example, I no longer need to open up duckduckgo to figure out what that one command was that worked for me 6 months ago. Now, I just type away. ctrl-r, ffmpeg, and bam, right there in my shell history, all I need to do is change the inputs and outputs.
Humans are fish who learned to type. And on average pretty golden
Where's that one YouTube with the older Lady that explains ffmpeg
Where's that madman that uses ffmpeg instead of cat
Excuse me??
fr feels like its own programming language
This is literally only for the ffmpeg filters 😅
I fucking love the default video. Classic.
the video it pulled for cross-fade was fun too
i have never seen this tool before and now i am forever in your debt
Nah you’re not. We’re Lemmy. Just pay it forward 😘
I find it wild there are countless "convert videos online for free!" sites on the Internet full of bonus malware which are all just thin wrappers around ffmpeg. And yet they persist because people want googleable answers to their problem which don't need a command line or downloading anything.
Personally I've got a Python script which provides a slightly friendlier wrapper around ffmpeg for my common use-cases.
But honestly ffmpeg is such a beast, so much of what we use daily depends on it under the hood.
Wait until you hear that ffmpeg is available as a library, including for Python. And that there are Python modules providing Python-specific ways of specifying the processing filters and whatnot, instead of putting them into the single command string.
There are many nice and FOSS GUIs for the tasks ffmpeg is usually used for.
Handbrake is a great example for macOS, windows, Linux.
For more advanced video compression Shutter Encoder is fantastic.
Good old AVIDemux has a few other cool features as well, like cutting without reencoding.
There are also a bunch of straight up ffmpeg front ends as well.
Why do people use those shitty websites?
They show up as a fast and easy option without having to research, download, install, and learn to use a more complicated application.
For sure yeah.
I still end up having to use ffmpeg directly (in combination with other CLI tools) because there's always something the GUIs haven't caught up with yet. Most recently for me it was converting animated webp's into something I could actually work with
Yes! The picture is inaccurate, people who need to learn ffmpeg rarely know they do.
More like ffmpreg amirite?
Is that the fork that converts regexes into mp4?
Why learn ffmpeg when you can find the holy words that invokes the machine spirits transmutation codex and write them on your data slate to be used again later?
i cannot fix her. I'd let her read the wiki or just install canvas
Why do you need to learn ffmpeg
Wanting to do anything with video for one
Not true. You can:
- create
- delete
- copy
- move
- spend an afternoon with windows movie maker
- think you are creating but forgot to reinstall the sd card
- upload to youtube without any editing like a boss
So many things you can do without ffmpeg
You really named probably the only video editing software that isn’t using ffmpeg somewhere.
YouTube uses ffmpeg to convert the video, even if you don’t edit the video.
Does it still convert if you upload in its formats (AV1 & Opus)?
Yeah it needs to create the different files for each resolution. But also the bitrate of the original file is probably too high for YouTube’s liking anyway so they re-encode it.
YouTube and windows movie maker are almost certainly using ffmpeg.
I guess I should clarify that I'm talking from a video engineering perspective.
don't let your dreams be dreams
create that ffm pegging video
man